


Soulmarks

by thecurlymop



Category: The Crimson Field
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 17:50:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3737983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecurlymop/pseuds/thecurlymop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmarks are rare and the chances of meeting your soulmate are even rarer but what if it happened to Kitty and Tom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soulmarks

Soulmarks had become rarer over the centuries so when Kitty’s came through one afternoon when she was eleven, she’d been quite startled. There was only one other girl at school who had them and they would imagine stories of how they’d meet their soulmates for hours on end. Of course Kitty’s ‘you’re not allowed in here’ inspired adventure stories of Kitty sneaking into somewhere and being caught by a policeman or a soldier perhaps. Cecily’s inspired romantic thoughts and also reassured her because as a slightly spotty teenager, what was better than to know someday your soulmate would step up to you and say ‘you’re more beautiful than I could have imagined.’

Of course they knew that it was unlikely they’d even meet their soulmates but it was nice to imagine. When Kitty was introduced to Elliot, she’d held her breath as he opened his mouth but he only said ‘it’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Trevelyan,’ and that was that. She knew she had to marry him, if only to save her parents from ruin and so from that day she tried to forget about the words wrapped in elegant script around her wrist.

 

Tom tried to keep his soulmark hidden but it was difficult, especially when so much of the time he needed to have his sleeves rolled up for work. At least the mark wasn’t especially interesting although it had caused him to panic a few times. ‘Excuse me’ was something he heard so often that he’d ceased to notice it but just occasionally a beautiful woman would say it to him and he’d freeze for a moment but feel nothing and have to keep moving.

 

It was only when she’d left Elliot for good that she’d started to wonder about her soulmate again. She dreamt that she heard the words and the soulmark burned on her wrist, becoming bold and black against the gold of her skin. She dreamt of a man’s voice saying her name and clutching her to him and she made the decision to leave the country. She’d have a greater chance of finding him if she didn’t just stay in Cornwall all her life. She told herself that she wasn’t just running away from her marriage and from the child she wasn’t allowed to see, she was also running to him, her soulmate, the person she was destined to love.

 

Once he’d started his training and had access to medical journals, Tom had done as much research as he could but he always ended up returning to the old stories and songs of his childhood. Songs where soulmates met and their marks burned and blackened on their arm as a sign of their burning passion for each other. There were other songs too, ones he preferred not to think of, where a person waited for their soulmate for many years until one day their mark began to fade until it was gone. It was said that as the mark faded, so did the hope in their heart, and when it was gone they knew their soulmate was dead. But by the time Tom had made it through his medical training and into the RAMC and crossed the channel to France, thoughts of soulmates had disappeared from his mind. If he thought of his soulmate at all, it was to hope that she had found someone to marry and was happy. It wasn’t as if he’d have been a good marriage prospect anyway.

 

Thus it was that when he tried to hand Kitty Trevelyan down from the truck and she rejected his help, although he noted how beautiful she was, he decided that she was rude and he would avoid her as much as possible. He managed that neatly, switching shifts and spending more time in the operating tent where she wasn’t allowed and even deliberately walking away when she came near. But it had to happen at some point and as it was him, it had to be at a bad time, so one day in the early morning he turned from a failed operation to see her staring at him.

‘Excuse me,’ she said gently.

‘You’re not allowed in here,’ he blurts, his anger at his failure spurting out in the words. He sees her recoil and that angers him too, he’s not angry at her but at himself and at whoever made her scared of whatever it is she sees in his face. She tells him his patient has come round and it’s not until he’s checking on Major Crecy and leaving instructions for his care with the duty nurse that he feels it, a burn like a nettle sting around his wrist. He thinks he gasps, he’s not quite sure, he blunders out of the ward and into his tent without thinking, unbuttoning his sleeve to see the words on his wrist.

**Excuse me**

‘Miles! I need your help! Wake up and help me!’

 

Kitty had barely slept as always and by the time she’d been sent to find Captain Gillan she was so tired she’d blundered into the operating tent without thinking. She was lucky he hadn’t decided to report her but still, he had frightened her in spite of herself. While the words had seemed familiar, she had focussed on the message she needed to give and nothing else. She came off shift soon afterwards and went to take a nap, hoping that the quiet of an empty tent would allow her to sleep. When she woke, she was startled to find her soulmark had changed.

**You’re not allowed in here**

 

She’d been woken, in fact, by a person calling her from outside.

‘Miss Trevelyan?’

It was Captain Hesketh-Thorne but he didn’t sound his usual bumptious self.

‘Miss Trevelyan, are you in there?’

She cleared her throat hastily, ‘yes, what is it?’

‘Could you come out here, there’s something we need to check.’

‘Is Captain Gillan with you?’ she asked, fairly sure she knew what they needed to check.

‘Yes, I am,’ came the reply.

She walked towards the tent flap and paused to inhale before opening it.

‘Miss Trevelyan, may I introduce Captain Thomas Gillan of the RAMC, I don’t believe you’ve met properly.’

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you,’ she said, looking up into pale blue eyes.

‘Likewise,’ he nodded.

‘Right, well, now the proprieties have been observed I’ll leave you to it.’

‘Miss Trevelyan-‘

‘Kitty, please.’

He inclined his head again, ‘and you should call me Thomas or Tom. Er, Kitty then.’ He laughed, ‘er this was completely unexpected.’

‘Yes,’ she agreed, ‘completely.’

 

**Author's Note:**

> this has been going round my head so I wrote it. If you liked it, tell me! I might write more...


End file.
